German-Iraqi Boy, 12, Attempts To Bomb Christmas Market

A 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy has been arrested for attempting to blow up a Christmas market in the town of Ludwigshafen, prosecutors say.Prosecutors said he left a rucksack with explosives which failed to detonate in November, and put another explosive device by the town hall a few days later, they say. But a member of the public alerted the police, and no-one was injured.The 12 year old – who is now in custody – is thought to have been recently radicalised and having links with the so-called Islamic State group.Reports cited security and judicial sources as saying the boy was “strongly radicalised” and apparently instructed by an unknown IS member.The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on a possible IS link, but confirmed officials were investigating the case.Public Prosecutor Hubert Stroeber said the boy left a backpack containing a home-made nail bomb at the Christmas market in Ludwigshafen, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on 26 November, but the device did not go off because the detonator apparently failed.Prosecutors said no formal proceedings would be launched against him, because he is below the age of criminal responsibility.